


“The Mysterious Case of Harley and the Neon Event Horizon.”

by homericHorror



Series: Davepeta and Jade's Post-Game adventures [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Aspect anxiety, Celestial Harmonics, Dirk Strider mention - Freeform, F/F, F/M, HSBB2019, M/M, Meta Nonsense, Other, Space Exploration, anxiety attack, first fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 22:32:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19186660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homericHorror/pseuds/homericHorror
Summary: Jade Harley, during the "Solo year" her group of friends decided to hold to decompress post game, finds her way to the centre of their new galaxy. There she comes across a familiarly coloured black hole, and reminisces about the nature of her aspect, and what it means to be Jade Harley.





	“The Mysterious Case of Harley and the Neon Event Horizon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! This is my first fic and made as part of the homestuck new beginnings big bang! Art by (in order of appearance): https://twitter.com/neonmints?lang=en and https://twitter.com/chefmaeda?lang=en
> 
> Full resolution image by Neonmints here: https://i.imgur.com/byC5Wa6.png  
> Full resolution image by Chefmaeda here: https://imgur.com/XvT5Dbp (Eyestrain warning, bright and blurry colours)

The new universe that the kids had created was truly bafflingly new for Jade, and yet still so familiar in an unsettling way. Everyone lived on Earth still, but the cultural norms, the religions, the knowledge, and art was all different. Even beyond that, the ectobiological material to populate this planet came from earth, Alternia, and their players, and she could see it in some of the people. A lot of them, humans and trolls both, had this undeniable but barely there resemblance. This familiar newness was just as overwhelming to her as it was to others, and a good chunk of the first two years on Earth C had been dedicated to wrestling with that by everyone. Except for the Sprites. They were fine with it all. The sprites were fine with everything at all times. 

After a little over two years on Earth C, the group had decided on “The Solo Year.” Spending every hour of every day with the same 10 or so people you had known for the past 6 years had become hard for even Roxy to handle. “The Solo Year” was meant to be a recharge time for everyone, to go off and see what they wanted to see, to do what they wanted to do. 

The idea of The Solo Year was beloved by most, but to one Jade Harley, it held a special kind of horror. The year would hardly be a new experience to her, having wasted a year like that before, three of them even. The issue was that she _hated_ it. She had spent three years completely alone, after watching her newfound brother and boyfriend explode and die. 

If she were being perfectly honest then, yes, she would admit there were others there, but by all accounts she was alone. Consorts didn’t offer any real company, speciesist as that may be, and Nanasprite didn’t either, but her cakes were comforting. It was all forced, gamified company, as if she was trapped on a golden ship for three years with nothing but Video Game NPCs to talk to… Because she was. It was a particularly crushing kind of loneliness, having to watch two close friends die, then live out three years with all but a facsimile of interaction from people who aren’t truly alive. 

So that left Jade with a dilemma when the Solo-Year was been proposed. When she had finally gotten to new Session, she had been put to sleep and didn’t get to talk to a soul until the game was won. She had barely caught up with everyone after the two years on Earth C, now to break up again almost physically hurt her, and definitely made her want to yell. Just like the old days. All that frustration is let bubble away, smothered by kindness, and then explodes out at everyone she cares about. That’s the mindset she could feel herself slipping back into as the “COUNCIL OF 12”, Karkat’s name for the group, convened to discuss The Solo Year in Dave’s favourite restaurant, Sweet Brooze and Hella Jeffood. What hurt more than the introspection it would force, more than the possibility of loneliness… Was the fact that everyone else seemed eager to scatter to the winds. It was 12/0 for the year… Though Jade desperately wanted it to be 11/1. She couldn’t bring herself to raise her hand, to be the one person denying her friends what they wanted. 

* * *

  
  


“space falls back. it yields. hosts the play silently.” Those were the words The Muse had said to her. Those were the words The Muse lived by… and in that moment, when Jade made a second Choice, she chose to fall back and let everyone else have what they wanted. 

While the newness of Earth C, or the newness of its people, or culture, or its Eastern Animated Pictures pulled Jade’s friends in and took up their time… Jade found a new newness, all to her own. She had already felt uncomfortable and separate from the people of Earth C, being held up as some sort of goddess by them, so her pursuits found her looking elsewhere to spend her free time. With the ability to go anywhere, do anything, and be home before lunch, Jade Harley had found herself becoming quite the interstellar traveller, and quite often used that infinite vacuum to decompress from difficult social interactions and prevent meltdowns. In a fashion that she had become used to: She both hated and loved this new, vast expanse she could explore. 

When she had to pick her year’s time waster, Jade only really had that one option left: Space. She had lost touch with most of her eclectic interests in the all encompassing miasma that she cloaked herself in during her three year ship journey, and when the year was decided upon as the new course of action… She had to find something new. So, befitting of the actions that led her to that point, she warped out into deep space. Not needing food, nor water, nor rest… Jade wandered the stars. 

It hadn’t taken her long to get used to living in space again. Oddly enough, her time on her planet and on the ship had prepared her well already. It was cold, but her pyjamas were warm and could be made warmer if need be. It was perfectly still, stiller than the stillest cloudless day back on her island. And that was weird, for a few hours. Her ship had brought her through the immaterial void between dimensions and that was just as still, if not stiller. 

Even as planets rocketed around stars faster than any human could comprehend, spinning almost as fast themselves, their stars wheeling around the massive black hole at the centre of their galaxy which in turn spun through the universe at an unimaginable pace and scale… Space was vast, fast, silent, and unnerving… 

And, though Jade hated to admit it, it was peaceful. 

It felt right. 

* * *

  
  


Jade took a lot of time familiarising herself with the new formations that space had taken in this new universe. She had a book from Earth C about astronomy with her in her sylladex, several actually, and she loved seeing every brand new cloud of nebulae, twisting donut-ring stars, planets with their centres knocked out, moons launching towards and spinning away from one another because of their wildly fluctuating polarities. It felt like space here had been designed for her. She could wander forever and not get bored… And every time she found herself feeling comfortable in the oxygen-less, infinitely cold, infinitely vast, infinitely lonely expanse of space… A twinge of guilt and sadness tugged at the core of her being. Every time she rejoiced in the new discovery of a distant and bizarre planet, she felt as if she were proving The Muse right. 

Yet Jade did not remember the other words The Muse had said to her, about space’s role of roaring to life when needed… But, as she floated along in the vast vacuum another phrase, mired in hazy memories of someone, someone important, repeating it, clawed vaguely at the edge of her mind… Though The Muse’s words didn't come to her, the idea still stuck somewhere in her subconscious. The one idea she could always fall back on: 

“perhaps you should try to have, "fun."”

As a desperate attempt to escape this mindset of isolation, sadness, and self flagellation Jade tried her best to fill her time with the distractions and “fun” of a galactic scale. She thought that if she was going to be beholden to the words of The Muse, she would be beholden to all of them. It was also an attempt to drown out the thoughts of Earth C, of everyone else, of everything… Except them, that other voice telling her to have fun… Just at the edge. She couldn’t bear to drown out that those words she wished desperately to hear again. 

Jade turned the universe into her playground. She surfed on comets, swam through streams of stars at hypersonic speeds, skimmed glaciers across the surface of planets with oceans of platinum, and bathed in rains of liquid diamonds. She watched as planets collided and burst into showers of meteors. She watched as life clawed its way from primordial ooze, played with planets as if they were golf balls, rocketing them far out of orbit, only to immediately drag them back in. Humans learn best through play and, through her play in Space, without realising it, Jade became more and more in tune with her powers, and with Space itself. 

  


  


* * *

  
  


It was this play that brought her to the centre of the galaxy itself. She felt the tug of the black hole long before she saw it. Usually that would be followed by a “saw”, quotations intentional, as black holes are usually just denoted by their absence of light.. But in this case, no. In this specific case the black hole was almost blindingly bright, and not black at all. The entire singularity, swirling and dragging space detritus, stars, planets, and so on, into its infinite mass, was flashing orange and green rapidly and sending pulsing strobes out into the inner ring of the galaxy. And something sparked in Jade’s mind. She remembered who that other voice was: 

Davepeta.

She couldn’t believe she had nearly forgotten them… They were so lovely and… Dead? Probably. They went off to fight Lord English and then just… No one heard anything from them. Not even Terezi on her jaunt back into Paradox Space. Jade grabbed a comet and locked it into place. She sat down on it and kicked her feet as she began to think back on everything about her time with Davepeta, and also with Davesprite. She had not had much time with either of them, Davesprite having died barely after her journey across the Yellow Yard began, and Davepeta crossing through her life to give her one magic kiss before flying off away from the Green Sun to go be a hero, like the total opposite of a “fuckign piece of gargbage.” 

From her seat on the comet, chin on her hands, elbows on her legs, she relaxed to enjoy the show. Turns out that even the infinity of space gets boring after almost a year of nothing but space. There are only so many time you can say to yourself "Wow, it’s so cool how unique and mind-blowing that is." That path of thought was a sobering moment for Jade. The pure wonder of _watching a black hole_ wasn’t anything to her now. She didn’t particularly know what that meant. Was she… Bored? Lonely? Had she just gotten used to it all? She didn’t know. 

Jade fumbled around in the pockets of her god hood and pulled out a phone. She flicked it on and checked the “emergency group chat.” It was set up so that if anyone needed to contact the group in case of disasters, deaths, or big news that there would be at least one way. The same magic that allowed their devices to work all throughout Sburb had seemed to carry through, and her phone was rip-roaring and ready to send a message if she needed it. Companionship, a phone call, a group chat… It was all only a few taps away. She didn’t have to be lonely. She knew she was more than just her Aspect… Or was she? Kanaya wasn’t a particularly strong Space player, neither was Calliope. But Jade and The Muse? They were. Maybe that was it. The stronger and more connected you were, the more you were beholden to your Aspect… 

Jade curled in on herself, eyes screwed shut, jaw clenching, elbow against her stomach, forearms flat on her legs, hands grabbing the front of her hair. She felt, for the first time, the pressure of space. She felt like she was going to crushed. Crushed by everything. By the responsibility of being so strong, by the loneliness, by everything she still hadn’t gotten over from those three stupid years. She felt like she was going to cry. By the time she thought that her body was already shaking, dry sobs wracking her body. 

???: B00 < woah jade are mew okay???

Jade was shaken out of whatever state she was just in, nearly concussed by hearing a voice. The first voice she’d heard in a little over 6 months. She physically cringed at that number, but decided to move the breakdown over that to her 4 o’clock slot. For now she had more immediate breakdowns to handle, such as the one over starting to hear things. She curled in tighter and let out a dog-like whine… And then she felt something touch her shoulder. Alarm bells pinged off in her head and her Sburb built instincts kicked in. With the crackling of nuclear First Guardian Energy Jade vanished from the spot she was in an instant ago. She appeared behind her new assailant, Caled-hab’s CrossScratch (An upgrade she took to her rifle to distance herself from the weird fishboy it had been originally held by) pressed firmly against their head, the gun emitting a high pitched whine as it charged its shot. And from the girl who had spent three years and change playing a death game and had lived her entire life on an island, fighting for her life at every turn, there emitted a loud, angry growl… 

Until she saw what her gun was placed against: A pair of flashing green and orange claws 

???: B33 < woah h33h33 mewve got good refurlexes jade almost as good as mine  
???: B33 < no but pawlso fur serious  
???: B33 < and im like nefur serious  
???: B?? < i repeat are mew okay?  
  
  
JADE: davepeta?! :O

The situation was almost too weird to even surprise her. She was caught somewhere on the edge of have a breakdown over any one of a hundred things, freaking out over seeing a green and orange flashing Sprite2 in front of her eyes, and it all just cancelled itself out. She was left half stunned and half completely baffled. Her gun vanished back into her strife deck and her hands went up to Davepeta’s face. She grabbed their soft, half-troll cheeks and squished them around. Her disbelief abated slowly as she wallowed in the physicality of it all. Warm skin, another person to talk to, real physical contact. She almost wanted to cry again. But she held back tears, stamped them down as she had become accustomed to. She let happiness take over, she let relief flood in. She let herself calm down... She let herself look like she’d calm down. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < thats the name  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < b33n awhile since anyone called me that h33h33  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < b33n awhile since anyone called me anything hahaha  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < gog being warped betw33n universes in a black hole is some crazy sh-  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B(( < oh h33h33... 

Davepeta’s rambling tangent petered out as they watched Jade’s forced smile start to quaver again. They floated down towards Jade’s meteor and grinned. Flashing six cue ball-white claws, they flash stepped around the piece of space rock over and over, carving and cracking it until… 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: BDD < tada!!!

The rock had been carved into a perfect Simpsonian three-cushion couch. Jade stared at it, and looked up at Davepeta, completely baffled. There was definitely a lot of Dave in them, this was an undeniably Dave joke… But the jokes weren’t ironic anymore, they were goofy and oh so sincere. It almost made her cry again. But she couldn’t cry, not only because she had already cried so much today, but because she didn’t think she had enough water left in her system to cry either. She hadn’t drank anything in the indeterminable amount of time it had been since she blasted herself off into deep space. She floated down onto the seat again, reclining into its… Not at all soft cushions. It was still nicer than sitting on rough rock though. Davepeta sat down beside her, legs crossed under them. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < boring deathgame stuff aside and compurletely ignored and off the table  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < how have things b33n fur you guys??  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < was i gone long????  
  
JADE: weve been okay mostly  
JADE: just adjusting to our new lives i guess  
JADE: its been almost three years though  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < *curls up at ur side and paws at ur legs* why are mew out here all alone then jade????  
  
JADE: were doing this stupid “solo year” thingy  
JADE: i hate it  
JADE: everyone else got to spend three years on a ship together and now theyre sick of one another i guess!!!!  
JADE: and ive just been alone  
JADE: but i cant just say that can i???!?!?!  
JADE: NO! I HAD TO JUST BE NICE LITTLE JADE WHOS NICE AND HELPFUL!  
JADE: THATS MY JOB I GUESS!!!!!! IM SPACE!!!!!!!! I FALL BACK AND LET EVERYONE WALK ALL THE FUCK OVER ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:((((((

Jade was yelling now, and tears were falling hot and hard. They were the angry tears of a girl exhausted by her place in the world. She didn’t know what it was about having Davepeta with her, curled up and pawing at her just like they’d said, but it made her feel… At ease. She felt like she could say everything she’d been holding back, like there was no need for secrets or facades or fake smiles. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < *sits hella straight up and purrs all concerned and shit* woah jade its okay what are mew even talkin about?  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < why is this mewr job?  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < how long have mew been freaking out ofur this?  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B(( < im so sorry mew had to handle this stupid sburb nonsense alone  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but mew are more than just an aspect mew are a p-  
  
JADE: THATS WHAT THE MUSE TOLD ME THOUGH!!!!!! AND SHES SOME OMNIPOTENT FUCKING SKELETON GIRL SO I GUESS SHE JUST KNOWS IT ALL?!?!?!?!  
JADE: IM SO SICK OF IT ALL!!!! IM SICK OF SBURB! OF CLASSES! OF ASPECTS! OF STUPID OMNIPOTENT GODS TELLING ME WHO I AM AND WHAT I CAN DO!!!!!!!!!!  
JADE: IM TIRED OF BEING PUT TO SLEEP OR LOCKED UP ALONE!  
JADE: I DONT GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT THE NARRATIVE OR THE TIMELINE ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!  
JADE: IF ME WANTING TO LIVE AND BE HAPPY KILLS US ALL THEN I DONT WANT THIS UNIVERSE TO CONTINUE EXISTING!!!!!!!  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B(( < jade i know this is all horrible and awful but mew n33d to calm down  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B(( < mew are about to-  
  
JADE: I DONT WANT TO CALM DOWN! I DONT WANT TO BE QUIET! I WANT TO JUST!!!!!!!!!!!  
JADE: FUCKING GO **_FERAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_** WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOOOOOOOOOOOOF!!!! >:(((((((((((((

She felt an unbearable welling up of emotions deep inside her. 3 years of loneliness, a solo year’s worth of betrayal and anger, and a lifetime’s worth of isolation, rejection, and condemnation by forced far beyond her control. She had spent her whole life bottling up and exploding when she couldn’t handle it anymore. She was done with that cycle. She would explode here and now, and she would feel as much as she wanted to from here on out. Every emotion ever, and as much of them as she could get. That reassurance only made the pressure within her increase, made the emotions bubble faster and harder. She felt like she could just unravel and explode at any second. 

And explode she did. 

Literally. 

As her voice worked up and up, as she yelled out frustration after frustration, she could feel the First Guardian energy inside herself begin to well up and escape in crackling, nuclear arcs of energy. They tore through the rocky sofa and tore it asunder. The energy began to spark all around her, reaching out like tendrils of electricity in a plasma ball, forming a slowly growing sphere around her. Normally Jade would push this energy down, calm herself, she would compress and compact all that negativity and sadness. She would never do that again, not if she could help it. 

Jade Harley erupted in a giant sphere of nuclear green energy. All the while she howled, and cried, and screamed. She let out every last drop of anger and resentment that had built up inside her in ever expanding waves of pure destructive energy. From where Davepeta had flash stepped away to she looked like a miniature green sun. The energy crackled and jolted, licking and jumping out in arcs at any passing meteorites, instantly turning them to ash. After a while, the sphere began to flicker, dim, and recede. Soon, Jade was left floating, exhausted but calm. She hung lazily in space, just putting in enough effort to cancel the pull of that neon event horizon in the distance. This calm, this pure release of emotion, and the bliss of hanging emotionally exhausted afterwards called back memories of lying in the ocean just outside her house, letting herself float with Bec as her ever watchful guard. He’d always be right there, if she looked to her right. 

Her head turned and laid right beside her, similarly drifting in the ocean of space, was Davepeta. They grinned at her, and floated sideways, bumping up against her. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < did it f33l good to get that all out?  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < how long were mew holding onto this for anyway????  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B(( < all this stuff about having to be one way because mewr aspect says so…  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B(( < and the “omnipotent fucking skeleton girl” seems like a big dumb m-  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < wait is this about calliope?????  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < jaaaaaaade mew cant be all messed up by that grumpy lonely skeleton again!!!!!  
  
JADE: im not-  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < we talked about this!  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < grumpy and lonely skeletons are not purrfect sources of infurmation!  
  
JADE: ://///  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < dont be like thaaaat  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < look at it this way  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < what is non grumpy calliope doing right now?  
  
JADE: well last time i checked she was living with roxy…  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < and what about kanaya???  
  
JADE: shes living with the jades and looking after the mothergrub bu-  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < does that sound like falling back and getting tread on???  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < is that loneliness and abandonment?  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < being surrounded by mewr loved ones and the race mew thought mew lost who mew helped bring back to life?  
  
JADE: well theyre not very strong space players so-  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < so what???????  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mew are getting all tied up in knots and mew are making up stuff to allow mewrself to k33p f33ling like garbo!!!!

Davepeta shook the two from their lazy drifting with a yell, their wings spreading wide as their voice reached a peak at the end, fists bunched. They felt drained now too. When they opened eyes they hadn’t realised they’d screwed shut, they looked at Jade and she was shaking again. She knew they were right. She didn’t want to know that. She felt like she was going to cry again, until big bird wings wrapped around her body and Davepeta enveloped her in a hug. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i got hella fuckin rude there im sorry jade  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < look lets  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < lets talk about earth c  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < tell me about what ive missed and this solo year thingy  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and tell me about the cool shit on earth c too  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and not just the stuff dave would find cool  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < the stuff a cool and badass cat-troll would find cool too

Davepeta had moved far beyond the depressed, memeified self-hatred of their time as Davesprite, but that just meant when they thought they were being a fuckign piece of gargbage, they knew that they probably were. They weren’t being mean, but Jade didn’t need some harsh fuckin’ truth bombs blasting her all masterfully paleways right now. Right now, she needed some kind words, companionship, and someone to let her know things would be okay. 

Jade felt slightly concussed by everything that just happened. She had tired herself out with her whole nuking thing, and then she got yelled at while she was all relaxed, and now she was all relaxed again and in Davepeta’s arms, and she just felt confused. She sighed and separated herself from the Sprite^2. She put her hands on her hips, ears twitching. She stared down Davepeta, and they mimicked her position, wings also on their hips. The pair couldn’t help but giggle, but Jade still looked serious when their laughter subsided. 

JADE: listen here davepeta  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < im all 20 kinds of listening right now jade  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < ive got cat ears and troll horns and human ears and weird extrasensory metapawers granting me a level of narrative cognition that you wouldnt even be able to comprehend  
  
JADE: wait what???  
JADE: are troll horns able to sense things????  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < dunno but mine can  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < anyway shoot  
  
JADE: i appreciate everything that youve done in cheering me up and stopping me from freaking out  
JADE: but im worried that if i start talking…  
JADE: youre just going to cut across me again! :(  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B(( < oh  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < well  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i can see why mew are worried about that  
  
JADE: ive spent so long getting trampled and talked over and narrated and accounted for  
JADE: that i almost just…  
JADE: calmly launched into talking like you asked me to  
JADE: and i really really didnt want to do that  
JADE: so i…  
JADE: so i didnt!!  
JADE: and that felt great!!!!!  
JADE: i get to decide everything i do now!  
JADE: no more falling back or whatever!!!  
JADE: thats the new rule!  
JADE: jade is jade and no one decides things for jade except for her!!!!!  
JADE: also jade will stop referring to herself in the third person  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but the purd…  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < no that ones kinda forced  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < the third purrson is a hella cool way for davepeta to refer to themselves  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but i get it if jade doesnt like it  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < h33h33  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < anyway  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i purromise that i wont  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mew have got my word as a sprite, as a cat, as a bird, and as a troll

Jade sighed incredulously, and made her way over to Davepeta. Grabbing their shades and dragging them down just enough for their gazes to me, she gave them her best stern look. Their eyes flashed back at her. Literally, like headlamps. 

JADE: all i want is your word as davepeta  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < then thats what mew have  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < gimme the dl jade and ill be respectful  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i pinky purromise

Davepeta held up their pinky, wiggling it furiously. Jade gripped theirs with hers, nodding solemnly. They wouldn’t dare break their promise now, and Jade knew this. Pleased by that, she drifted back and swept her arms, gathering space dust and rocks into vaguely person-like shapes, abstract representations of her friends, rendered in black, white, and grey. It seemed like a suitable enough medium to her. 

JADE: heres whats been going on

The shapes first depicted Rose’s house, covered in papers, rough drafts, scribbles, arcane nonsense, and the ineffable horror of college textbooks. 

JADE: rose is finally writing her magnum opus  
JADE: bizarre esoteric homoerotic wizardfic   
JADE: shes been having lots of cool prophecies and views into other timelines and stuff too  
JADE: and shes writing them all down which is neat  
JADE: shes also trying to turn her childhood fascination with psychoanalysis into like  
JADE: actual knowledge of psychology  
JADE: so im proud of her for that haha  
JADE: oh also shes still obsessed with those weird tentacle monsters haha  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < oh shit yeah i remember that stuff  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < weird childhood fascination is definitely one thing to call it

The shapes faded and morphed into an adorable not-grumpy skeleton and one Roxy Lalonde, looking all happy and domestic cuddled up together in a comfy, small study. 

JADE: roxys writing and doing college stuff too but shes also doing like  
JADE: everything  
JADE: shell probably have done more in this one year than the rest of us combined  
JADE: callies just living with her like i said  
JADE: they’re cute together i guess  
JADE: gog knows how they find time to do all that stuff and still be so domestic and cute and

Jade felt something unplesant welling up inside her, so she cut herself off and waved her arms quickly through the dust. It reconstituted itself next into a certain cool kid, scribbling away at a computer. And the same cool kid scratching away at some sick beats. And another writing on a laptop. And another taking photographs. And another's reading a textbook. Ugh, so many academics. 

JADE: daves doing art and music as per usual  
JADE: but hes picked up all his old hobbies too  
JADE: err not exactly in the healthiest way though haha...  


Davepeta makes an odd face full of conflicted and contradictory emotions. Jade awkward-laughs hard and tries to change the subject.  


JADE: and hes doing a degree in economics too i think weird right hahaha! :D  
JADE: his art is all weird and as inscrutable and subversive as always  
JADE: but theres something more solid to it now  
JADE: like being told about alpha dave gave him a new drive  
JADE: and weve only had to rescue him from timeloop hell once!  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < impressive  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < what happened???  
  
JADE: some weird self imposed impossible deadline nonsense *shrug*  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B// < sounds about right *shrugs harder*  


Dirk’s place was the next location, and it was as filled with as many robots and weird puppets as anyone would’ve expected. It was as messy and man cave-ish as anyone would've guessed... But something about it feel empty despite the clutter. 

JADE: dirks got a bunch of new smart ancient greek adjacent guys to read wikipedia articles about  
JADE: so hes doing that and building robots  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < no smart gals to read about?  
  
JADE: no theres tons  
JADE: dirk just doesnt care  
JADE: he keeps talking about how he “really needed this year” but also knows that hell regret it  
JADE: weird right???  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < h33h33 my dave senses tell me thats about par for the course  
  
JADE: weird

An idyllic suburban house appears next, filled with cakes, harlequins, hard boiled detectives, and joke books. Its sole inhabitant lays on his bed, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. 

JADE: john doesnt really post any updates  
JADE: no comments  
JADE: no complaints either though  
JADE: he just spends all his time with dad crocker and the nanasprites  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: >B?? < thats it???  
  
JADE: if he told us more or did more id tell you...  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < oh  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < uh whos next?

Quickly moving past that awkward moment, a lovely woman in spectacles and a spiffy suit with a sky scraper behind her appeared next. She looks proud... No it's different than pride. She looks satisfied. 

JADE: janes doing her crockercorp thing  
JADE: its cool i guess  
JADE: that she still wants to continue on her familys legacy i mean  
JADE: but  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < that legacy is the legacy of an alien fish nazi?  
  
JADE: yeah that one  
JADE: we have a group chat for emergencies and stuff and uh  
JADE: we have one without jane  
JADE: were gonna talk to her about the whole crockercorp thing as soon as the year is over  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < yeah better get on that  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < who knows whatll happen if you just let her carry on her alien fish nazi business business  
  
JADE: haha whats the worst that could happen?  
JADE: janes a sweetie  
JADE: shes not gonna take over the world or anything

The next image shows off a large insectoid creature, many hunched, horned figures fussing over small grubs, and a woman in a long dress standing watch over all of them. She holds a staff topped with an ornate chainsaw, and she looks beyond happy. 

JADE: kanayas making sure troll breeding practices are all good and running  
JADE: shes learning from the new jades  
JADE: and teaching them what she knows too  
JADE: she loves it  
JADE: did you know the mothergrub doesnt produce as many eggs anymore?  
JADE: they just have lots of smaller mother grubs all over the world, isntead of a few huge ones  
JADE: OH!  
JADE: janes helped her get the resources to make her fashion hobby into an s class fashion label  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < oh shit the nepeta in me remembers the wicked clothes she makes  
  
JADE: heheh theyre really really good

The dust shifts and shows a weird mix between a king’s war room and a presidential office, with a nubby horned troll sitting at the head table. Even though he's sitting he's gesturing wildly, his mouth wide. Even in the vacuum of space, both onlookers can hear him perfectly. 

JADE: karkats a natural politician  
JADE: hes taken to it like a duck to water  
JADE: hes not half bad at it either  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < quackbeast  
  
JADE: hmm?  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < nothing  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < continue  
  
JADE: oh hes writing romcoms now too  
JADE: he keeps trying to pretend he isnt  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < how do you know its him???  
  
JADE: literally no one writes like he does  
JADE: take every bad romcom trope that usually applies to women  
JADE: and just apply them to everyone instead  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: >B33 < equal opportunity objectification!!!

The next picture shows Terezi, surrounded by floating cans of shaving cream. She looks disheveled, exhausted, adrift in paradox space. 

JADE: terezis a bit like john  
JADE: shes not really in contact much  
JADE: shes still looking for vriska and time works weirdly back in paradox space  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < hmm  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i might have some tips for her  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but that can wait

Jade raised an eyebrow at that comment, but remained silent and moved on. The image showed Earth C’s favourite ass and adventurer, knee deep in a jungle thicket. 

JADE: jakes doing everything my grandpa did  
JADE: nothing much to it  
JADE: just adventuring and being the poster boy for a giant international business conglomerate  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < is he-  
  
JADE: yeah hes getting talked to too  
JADE: oh his ass is a regular thing on tv now too

Lastly, as per usual, came Jade. A girl with doggy ears talking to a winged sprite, with a smaller girl and sprite beside her, in an infinitely recursive loop. Or mostly infinite. Particles only get so small. 

JADE: and that leaves uh  
JADE: me i guess?  
JADE: im just wandering through space and feeling like garbage  
JADE: worrying about whether or not my friends will even care about me when this is over  
JADE: thinking about the new friends they have on earth c  
JADE: ones who dont need to go hide in their room every few hours because socialising makes them so overwhelmed they break down  
JADE: ones who dont cry over how alone they feel  
JADE: and im gonna be all alone in an unfamiliar place where everyone only talks to me because they have to  
JADE: i hate earth c  
JADE: i hate being a god  
JADE: i just want bec back  
JADE: i want my friends back  
JADE: i dont want to be the space girl  
JADE: i just want to be home

Jade's words dissolved as her voice began to shake. She sniffled and rubbed at her eyes, willing away the tears. She wanted to scrunch up. Collapse into a single point and ping out of existence. Drag everything with her into a single point of infinite mass and self-hatred. Then a warm touch pulled her out of the nosedive, yet again. Davepeta gripped her shoulder tightly, and she took a deep, shaking breath. She grounded herself and gave them a thumbs up. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < youre gonna be okay jade  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i purromise  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < no ones gonna hate you  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < or abandon you  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < they all love you  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but thats probably not the best thing to talk about right now  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: >B33 < in the meantime i really wanna hear about the cool stuff that id like on earth c!!   
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < focus on that right now  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < nothing else

Jade knew what they were doing. It’s what everyone with a friend with anxiety knows to do. Tell them to focus on something else. It works, unless they’re being stubborn. Jade didn’t have the energy to be stubborn right now. She honestly and truly didn’t want to feel bad anymore. She’d had enough of it. She’d be damned if she had another emotional outburst before the day was done. She forced her thoughts onto other pathways, breathing slowly and steadily. Her heart rate slowed, her blood stopped roaring in her ears, and she could think more clearly. After a few moments of thinking, her eyes snapped open. Sometimes she really loved her perfect memory. 

JADE: fine!   
JADE: you want something cool???   
JADE: huh???!!?   
JADE: how about  
JADE: uhhhhh  
JADE: OH!!!!!   
JADE: youll like this one  
JADE: theres this new idea in astronomy on earth c… well, new and old   
JADE: on earth a and b it was a big thing in ancient greece  
JADE: but on earth c, with all of its advanced technology and celestial observation devices  
JADE: its a big part of music and mathematics for them :)   
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < whats it called?   
  
JADE: celestial harmonics  
JADE: it measures the orbits and speeds of planets and other things in space and places them as a series of musical harmonies  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < wow they think mew can listen to mars playing some jazz h33h33  
  
JADE: haha not literally  
JADE: i dont think anyone thinks you can actually hear it ^^; 

Jade paused, her sentence trailing off. She had spent so much time in space and among the natural movements of the soundless expanse. It was beginning to feel like she could hear it. She had become so used to the silence that she could almost hear something in it, like the distant twinkling of a long-forgotten song. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < oh so its like metafurical music?  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < cool as hell  
  
JADE: yeah something like that!  
JADE: except tons of people have been interpreting the harmonies and theres this big music scene on earth c based on it all :B  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < so the planet music is real h33h33  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < thats so cool jade  
  
JADE: it is and it isnt  
JADE: wait  
JADE: since i can control space that kind of makes me like  
JADE: a conductor right ahaha  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B00 < or like some sicknasty space dj  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: >B33 < lay down some ill as heck beats for me jade  
  
JADE: i  
JADE: what?  
JADE: davepeta the music is only an interpretation  
JADE: i was only joking  
JADE: i cant actually  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mew just said mew were like some big space DJ tho so make it real girl  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: >B33 < dont worry ill be here to back mew up and shit

Jade sighed, realising she wouldn’t be able to discourage her excited friend from their newest VARIED INTEREST in celestial harmonics. She decided that she had to at least give it a try, if not for herself then for Davepeta. 

JADE: okay fine

She said, closing her eyes as her arms floated to that horizontal starting position, the one she had seen The Muse take in front of the Green Sun. 

And as Jade closed her eyes… 

She began to hear it. 

She could hear the music of the planets, just ever so lightly twinkling at the edge of her advanced Dog Tier hearing. Ears twitching, she could hear solar systems twisting in great roaring harmonies, joining in the cacophonous beauty of the centre of an entire galaxy. Each piece of space litter that fell into the black hole hit like rapid percussion, not throwing off the rhythm of even changing it. It merely aided the entire orchestral overture. 

With the Neon Event Horizon in the background, its nigh infinite mass dragging her in towards its centre even as she flew away from it, anchoring her in place. The flashing singularity strobed like a backing track, providing a steady pulse for the girl as she let out a slow, steadying breath. Almost instinctively, eyes still closed as she listened to the harmonies of space, her hands and arms began to move. With no baton, her hands drove the melody with open palms moving in a Celestial/Galaxial time signature. 

Jade didn’t seek to disturb the rhythm of this distant galaxy… At first. She merely fell into its rhythm and timing, conducting the already playing piece until she got comfortable. She felt each drop of material fall into the void; she felt the spinning of the galaxy around her. Her hands moved in time with it, and she could feel the harmony pick up in her ears. It was subdued and droning. A background noise so mundane that she wasn’t surprised that no one had ever heard it. 

Then with a sudden movement, she threw her orchestra of planets into disarray. Planets flew and knocked out of orbit like pool balls at the first strike of the cue ball. Flying out of orbit, they stopped on a dime as Jade struck a rigid pose. They were launched into their new orbits under the Witch’s command as her greatest fraymotif played out like a Calliopean Epic: 

**MUSICA UNIVERSALIS REMIX OVERTURE**

((Eyestrain warning)) 

The music of the moons became the falling keys of a universal piano. Planets and their rings surged in a hectic crescendo, like a swelling strings section. Meteors and planets doomed to be consumed surged into the event horizon at relativistic speeds, building into a many layered and booming rhythmic percussion. The smallest space waste whipped around Jade in looping, elliptical orbits, forming a resonant brass section as the pull of the black hole itself turned itself into rushing and vibrant woodwind. All the space detritus under Jade’s control fluctuated as it spins around her and the black hole, shaking and vibrating in crazed orbits and ornate trills. Jade’s universal orchestra soared and crashed, rushing and halting, blitzing through never before heard of movements. Her instruments warped through impossible paths at impossible speeds as everything became but a note in Jade’s hands, crying out in perfect celestial harmony. 

Eyes still closed, Jade dragged her ECLECTIC BASS from her sylladex and joined her own orchestra, three more dream body arms allowing her to play her bass at its most advanced setting grew from her body while two hands of crackling and vibrating First Guardian energy swung in perfect times, conducting her masterpiece. 

Watching, slack-jawed and glasses hanging off, was Davepeta. After the initial shock of the silent symphony wore off… They began to hear it too, just a little. They pulled THE POUNCELLOR’S TIMETABLES out of their sylladex and, shoving their sunglasses back up onto their face, span the cog records. Now is when the REMIX came in. Davepeta scratched and looped the beat, trapping planets and stars in infinite cycles of falling into the black hole and rising right back out. Pockets of looping time, of rushing time, of paused time sprouted up all around them. Looping, mixing, scratching, Davepeta played this orchestra of the spheres in their own way. Eyes closed, head and body bouncing to the beat, they relaxed into the beats that they had once found solace in, long long ago. 

Jade had composed the perfect symphony, and Davepeta had remixed it into the illest beats Universe C had ever seen. 

Eventually, the song came to an end and the silence that it left was defeaning. Jade warped planets right back into their proper orbits and rescued the bodies she doomed to the black hole with some help from Davepeta. Even after this busy work was done, the two were still left in this deafening silence. Jade stared at her wonderful… Friend? Ex? She really didn’t know what Davepeta was to her… She didn’t know what she wanted Davepeta to be to her either. There were so many memories that she did or didn’t have wrapped up in them, but they all belonged to one half of them… And they seemed to be their own new person, greater than the sum of their parts. It didn’t seem right for Jade to just ascribe whatever feelings she had for Davesprite onto them. The longer she looked at Davepeta, their cute little cat mouth and wicked shades shining in orange and green, the silence of space roaring in her ears… The loneliness of the vast vacuum hit her truly for the first time. Tears began to spring to her eyes, and she balled up her fists. She tried to keep herself grounded and to fight the oncoming waves of anxiety. She heard a distressed purr from Davepeta and she lost it. 

Jade didn’t know much about her relationship with Davepeta… But as she rushed at them, crushing them into a tight hug, tears streaming down her face and her body wracked with sobs, all she knew is that she loved them. 

JADE: i missed you so much  
JADE: so so much

She said between shaking breaths, the surprise of their feathery… partner? Friend? Love interest? Double Ascended Sprite-Boyfriend-Girlfriend-Datemate-Bird-Cat-Troll-Buddy? Whatever it was, their sudden appearance and the adrenaline of their music-making left her drained. Luckily for Jade, both halves of Davepeta knew exactly what to do in a situation like this. They hugged Jade back, not as crushingly tight, but comfortingly close. They held her steady. The pair simultaneously decided that hugging each other was amazing. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B’33 < i missed mew too  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i went to s33 lord english expecting to not come back  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < thats purrt of why I kissed mew h33h33   
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but im back  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < im here now and im not going away again  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < ill reassure mew on this as many times as i n33d to  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and ill k33p doing it until mew stop trying to deny it!!!!   
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mew dont have to be alone jade  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mew nefur do

Jade arms dragged across her face, the black of her god hood absorbing the tears. She sniffled and looked up at the dashing, feathered, technicolour flashing Rogue-Knight, and clutched at their coat. 

JADE: but what-  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < like i said last time  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < this big fancy muse!calliope sounds really mean and sad and lonely  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and it sounds like shes putting all that onto mew  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < whether she meant to or not

Davepeta said gently. They’d had more than enough experience with people putting roles they weren’t ready for or didn’t want onto them. They knew how that felt. They also knew exactly what was happening with Jade here. She’d gotten so worked up over this big Space thing, much like they’d gotten worked up over the Time thing, and she just keep beating herself up over the one point over and over. She needed help. Only she could get herself out of this in the end, but someone being there to yank her out of the depressing esoteric Aspect-based quicksand would make sure she wouldn’t keeping sinking. 

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mew are mew jade  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < it doesnt matter what ofur people do with space or how ofur people live with it  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mew are mew  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < (mew are mew h33h33)   
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < live mewr own life as alone or as filled with people as mew want it to be  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < mewve got at least one person whos nefur going to leave  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and theyre the coolest cat around

Davepeta looked down at Jade, smirking. She didn’t have a response to what they’d said, but it made her feel… Better. Silly jokes mixed with heartfelt words was always something they’d excelled at. Jade couldn’t help but laugh a little as she pressed herself in close and just nodded, clutching onto Davepeta for dear life. 

JADE: hey davepeta?  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < yeah jade?  
  
JADE: thank you for this  
JADE: thank you for  
JADE: for everything youve done for me  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < no n33d to thank me jade  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < im doin this beclaws i care about mew  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B?? < ever thought about what Heart means jade?   
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < it means im gog damn clawesome at caring about people  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < all captain planet hidden element style  
  
JADE: hahaha  
JADE: still  
JADE: thank you

Jade looked up at Davepeta, cupping their cheek with one hand, completing the circuit of their amazingly tender embrace, her chin resting on the top of the weird cog-moon on their chest. They were so familiar, yet so different. She felt like anything was possible from here… And she began to think… That maybe this, a chance at to start over, a chance to make something new and beautiful, a chance to write her own story, was Space too. Jade liked that idea a lot. 

JADE: oh and one last thing?   
JADE: i love you  
  
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < h33h33   
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i love mew too <3

And there they stayed for a time they didn’t care to measure, teetering on the edge of the new and the old. 

If Time and Space are all that mark the passing of existence in Paradox Space, and neither Time nor Space cared to think about the passing of either in that indefinite moment… 

Do either even pass at all? 

In this place on the edge of paradox space, who can say? 

But in the end, all that mattered, in that moment between the two, was a new love and a new chance for the both of them. 

A new beginning. 


End file.
